


Cultural Differences

by OnceAndFloral



Series: love language [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Miscommunication, Multi, Other, This is almost completely sweet trash, love is stored in the hair, nonbinary characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23187952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceAndFloral/pseuds/OnceAndFloral
Summary: Everyone's got different love languages, and none of the Mechs happened to brush up on the Yggdrasil system's when Lyfrassir joined the crew
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/The Mechanisms
Series: love language [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667104
Comments: 31
Kudos: 403





	Cultural Differences

Hair is a very important symbol on New Midgard. Well, was, but Lyfrassir was carrying on the tradition. Not everyone went to the lengths of complex styles that communicated things like marital status, a recent birth or a celebration, but it was rare to see anyone with unstyled hair. That was usually used by people in mourning.

So, naturally, it's a very intimate moment when you allow someone to touch your hair. Casual contact like that was reserved for family members. It was just something delicate, something so easily cut, broken or frayed, that to trust someone with it was a major show of affection.

Needless to say, they were not used to people touching their hair, especially after their long trip across the universe that led them to the Aurora. Lyfrassir had thought that since the Mechanisms were such violent people, they wouldn't be one for physical contact. They were wrong.

* * *

The first one to touch their hair is Brian. They’re hunched over in the mess hall eating lunch alone when he walks by and plucks something from their hair. It's been so long since anyone has touched it that it goes like a shot of lightning down their spine. They sit straight up within an instant.

“Wh-what was that?” They sputter.

Brian looks concerned, like he's worried he's hurt them. “You had some wire in your hair. I didn't want it to get caught on something. Are you okay?”

He reaches for their hair again and Lyfrassir jerks back. Why was he being so forward? “I'm okay! You just surprised me!”

Brian seems kind of hurt, in the kicked puppy way, and it makes Lyfrassir feel kind of bad. He made a bold move, and here they were making him upset about that risk. 

“Just, um, ask me next time, okay?” They offer. He nods, handing them the wire he removed from their hair. Lyfrassir holds it clenched in their fist for the rest of the day

* * *

The first time it feels like it means anything, really and truly, is with Jonny. He stops them in the hall, shoving him against the hall and their heart beats faster because Jonny sometimes gets in these moods where he kills everyone in sight and they don’t want to deal with that today-

“You look like shit,” He says. Oh.

“Okay?”

“We have a concert tonight. I’m going to fix that.”

“Oka-?”

They’re cut off as he grabs their wrist and starts dragging them down the hallway to his room. He sits them down on the floor and sits across from them, studying their face carefully before pulling out a box of makeup. Jonny’s hand is surprisingly steady as he applies eyeliner and paints on nail polish. After that he gets up and walks behind them. Lyfrassir assumes that he’s going to grab something from another part of the room but their breath suddenly catches in their chest.

Jonny is letting down their hair and running his fingers through it to tease out tangles and Lyfrassir's heart is racing like back in the hallway. He’s being so gentle, and it’s uncharacteristic, and does he know what this is doing to them?

“Do you want it like you normally have it?” Jonny asks as if this isn’t a wildly tender action. They haven’t even gone on a _date_ with him yet.

“Okay,” Lyfrassir manages to choke out. 

“Do you have any other words in your vocabulary?” His voice is sharp, but that doesn’t matter too much because he’s being so careful with Lyf’s hair.

Jonny stands back a few minutes later, admiring his work. “Alright, that’s not too bad.” He hands them a small mirror.

It’s not too dissimilar from how they usually tie their hair up, but the braids are a slightly more complex weave, the kind you have to think about while you do it instead of letting muscle memory just takeover. 

“I…” They should be returning the gesture. This was an insane show of affection, Lyfrassir had to do _something._

“Yea, yea, don’t mention it.” Jonny walked over to the door and opened it. “Go tune your cello.”

They know how to take the fucking hint, so they hurry out. The rest of the night they sometimes pause to reach up and touch one of the braids, thinking about what it all means.

* * *

Raphaella sits down in front of them, a serious look in her eyes. “Do you know how to style hair? Besides your normal braids, I mean, though I'm not opposed to something similar.”

They blink, trying to follow her line of thought. “Yes, I do.”

“Can you do that for me?”

Lyf nearly chokes to death right there from how quickly they inhaled. “You… You want me to do your hair?”

“Yes, I'm not used to styling my own hair and I have a thing tonight with Ivy and Ashes.”

Oh, oh, _oh,_ this was serious. Their head is full of cotton as she turns so her back is facing them. This was for something. Raphaella was allowing them to create something that she knew she would be seen in, knowing Lyf had been the one to do it. Their hands shake as they pull back her curls, but they quickly reign it in. They will not mess this up.

Lyf does something simple but pretty, a bun with a plait around the base. They leave it a little loose so the natural waves of her hair add some volume. When they're done, she glides over to one of the windows to look at her reflection.

“Oh! It's cute!” She turns her head to look at the side. “Thank you, Lyf.”

“No problem.” Their stomach is full of butterflies. Living on this ship is going to kill them.

* * *

Lyfrassir stumbles into one of the bathrooms late at night after a nightmare. They barely make it to the toilet before they're retching black sludge. The noise and motion is violent, sending their hair into their face. They really don't want to get it dirty, but their hands are too busy gripping the sides of the bowl for stability to do anything about it.

They manage to only flinch a little bit when it's suddenly pulled aside. During the first reprieve, they sit up and glance behind them to see Ashes holding their hair back.

“I thought you could use some help,” they say.

Lyfrassir's heart swells at that. “Th-Thank-” They don't get anymore out before more bile threatens to come up. Ashes stays with them through the whole thing, though, stroking their head and occasionally mumbling some comment to break the tension. 

“Is it over?” Ashes asks after a period where Lyfrassir goes ten minutes without retching.

“I think.” They close their eyes. They’re completely drained, unable to do anything except sit there and shiver.

They’re vaguely aware of Ashes using something to tie their hair up and helping them to their feet. They take the brunt of their weight walking down the hallway back to Lyfrassir’s room. Ashes sets them down on the bed, patting their head one more time before leaving.

* * *

Tim is much more guarded about it than the others. Which Lyfrassir understands, because they’re much the same way. Except for the bit where Jonny had reached over to mess with his hair and Tim had immediately shot him. While Lyfrassir probably wouldn’t kill anyone over it, they don’t blame him for it, especially when someone is trying to be so blase about an important ritual.

So they know they need to approach the situation before them carefully. Tim is sitting on the floor after a rampage on some unsuspecting planet, disassembling and cleaning his guns. His hair is… well… no one ever said battle was the best stylist, and Lyfrassir’s fingers are itching because they want to take care of it. They want to show they love him.

They tap his shoulder, and Tim twists around with one of the half disassembled guns that he couldn’t do much but beat someone to death with which. That wouldn’t be pleasant. Lyfrassir holds up their hands to show they mean no harm.

“I noticed your hair is really messy right now,” Lyfrassir says.

“Maybe. What’s it to you?”

“I thought that maybe I could… fix it for you. Only if you want, though,” They say quickly. 

Tim goes through several stages of contemplation that are only visible in his eyes. Then he nods. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“I won’t.”

Little fireworks are exploding inside of Lyfrassir as they sit down and work their fingers through his hair. They’re very cautious about it, taking care to not make any painful snags. Tim doesn’t even glance back at them the entire time, focused completely on the methodical cleaning of his guns. 

He does finally turn to them when they finish. “Hey, uh.” They’re pretty sure every function in their body stops for a solid two seconds as Tim reaches forward and places a stray lock of hair behind their ear. “Thanks?”

“Uh huh,” They breathe. “I’m gonna… go do another round of checks around the Aurora.”

They don’t mean to practically run from the room, but they do, and they spend five minutes in the hallway trying to catch their breath again.

* * *

Ivy trusts them to cut her hair. She finds them when they’re inspecting one of the exterior storage bays.

“I want to shave the sides of my head again,” She says.

They nod. It’s important to take people’s plans to change their hair seriously. “Alright.”

“Can you help me?”

Lyf manages to not do a double take this time, taking it all in calmly even though something like this is a big step in a relationship. “Sure.”

A few minutes later Lyf is cutting her hair in the bathroom. They take a bit longer than they actually need to, both so that they don’t make any stupid mistakes but also to enjoy the intimacy of the moment. Like the other times she and Lyf spend time together, it’s silent. They don’t need to talk to understand each other.

“How’s that?” They ask her.

Ivy lifts up her hand and runs her fingers over the sides of her head. “It’s good.”

“Good.”

They smile at her, and Ivy smiles back.

* * *

Recently all the times they hang out with Marius their train of thought usually ends up at “this might as well happen”, and that doesn’t stop short of this situation either. 

The nails of his non-mechanical hand are running over their scalp while they read a book. A while ago Lyfrassir would have lost their mind if they were this close to Marius at all, let alone while he ran his fingers through their hair. But today he had just sat down next to him and started doing this and Lyfrassir decided that he was both too tired to get up and liked it enough to stay.

“You’re like a cat,” Marius says out of the blue.

“Hm?” 

“You used to never let me touch you, and now I can practically hear you purring.”

“You’re giving yourself too much credit.” They turn the page.

“Maybe.”

They fall asleep without even realizing it. Lyfrassir blinks awake at some indeterminate time later, surprisingly cold. Marius’ hand is no longer in their hair, though he’s still sitting next to them flipping through the pages of their book. 

“Hey, um…” They clear their throat. Marius looks up at them.

“Yes?”

“Can you, uh.” Marius is just staring at them. Fuck, he was really going to force them to say it out loud. “Can you scratch my head again?”

A huge, shit-eating grin spreads across his face. “Cat.”

“Don’t.”

“You’re a cat.”

“Shut up or I’m leaving.”

Blessed be the gods, he does. Lyfrassir closes their eyes, just soaking in the slow intimacy of the moment. It’s still kind of weird that they haven’t gone on any real dates with the Mechs yet despite how much they’ve been touching each other’s hair, but then again, nothing was ever typical with the Mechanisms. They supposed that romance wouldn’t be the same either.

**Author's Note:**

> G-d bless everyone on the mechscord who read this and then we continued to go absolutely feral with this concept and now a sequel is in order.


End file.
